Photos: Danny Garcia, Ivan Redkach - Ready For War at Barclays

Text by Keith Idec, photos by Amanda Westcott

The heavy favorite was slightly heavier than his opponent at the weigh-in Friday for the Danny Garcia-Ivan Redkach fight Saturday night.

Philadelphia’s Garcia, 31, stepped on the New York State Athletic Commission’s scale at the welterweight maximum of 147 pounds. Ukraine’s Redkach, 33, came in at 146¾ pounds.

Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs), a former WBC welterweight champ, is listed by most Internet sports books as a 25-1 favorite to defeat Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs) in a main event Showtime will air from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Redkach recorded the most noteworthy win of his career in his last fight, a sixth-round knockout of Devon Alexander on June 1 in San Jacinto, California. The strong southpaw dropped Alexander three times in the sixth round before referee Thomas Taylor halted the action 1:10 into that period.

Garcia will fight for the first time since he knocked out durable veteran Adrian Granados in the seventh round of their April 20 fight at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Granados (20-8-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC) had never been stopped inside the distance before Garcia knocked him down three times and knocked him out.

If Garcia wins Saturday night, he’ll become a candidate to face either WBA welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) or IBF/WBC champ Errol Spence Jr. (26-0, 21 KOs) in his following fight.

Before Redkach and Garcia got on the scale Friday, Jarrett Hurd and Francisco Santana met their contractual obligations for a middleweight match Showtime will broadcast before Garcia-Redkach.

The 29-year-old Hurd (23-1, 16 KOs), of Accokeek, Maryland, officially weighed in at 154½ pounds for their 10-rounder. Santana (25-7-1, 12 KOs), of Santa Barbara, California, weighed 155 pounds.

The contracted maximum for the Hurd-Santana fight was 156 pounds.

Handicappers have made Hurd, a former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champ, a 50-1 favorite to beat Santana. Hurd will return to the ring for the first time since Julian Williams upset him by unanimous decision May 11 in Fairfax, Virginia.

Philadelphia’s Williams (27-2-1, 16 KOs, 1 NC) lost the three titles he won from Hurd on Saturday night in his hometown. The Dominican Republic’s Jeison Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) stopped the heavily favored Williams in the fifth round of a fight FOX aired from Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University.

Also Friday, Philadelphia’s Stephen Fulton (17-0, 8 KOs) and Ukraine’s Arnold Khegai (16-0-1, 10 KOs) made weight for the 12-round, 122-pound title bout Showtime will air as the opener of a telecast that’ll start at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Fulton, 25, got on the NYSAC’s scale exactly at 122 pounds. Khegai, 27, was 121¾ pounds.

They’ll fight for Fulton’s IBO super bantamweight championship. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.